Late in the autumn of 2001 I was sitting at my desk in the
Museum of Anthropology drafting my schedule for the winter. I
was nearly finished with all of my engineering prerequisites and
was reading about what classes I was supposed to take next semester.
To my horror, I realized that I would be spending nearly all of
my time on North Campus, deprived of my LS&A world and my
peers in the Ruthven Museum. I conveyed this misfortune to my
boss, Karen O'Brien, and pointed out that if I spent all of my
time on North Campus, I just might go crazy. I decided the only
way to prevent such a fate was to devise a project involving both
worlds. Thus was born the mummy project.

According to Karen, the Museum of Anthropology was in possession
of a mummy child. At that point the details regarding its condition
and location were unclear, and to my dismay I learned several
weeks later that the child had already been unwrapped.

But the idea was stuck in the back of my head, and after another
week I started pursuing other options. At that point, I recalled
that my former classical archaeology professor, Dr. Susan Alcock,
worked as a Research Scientist in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.
The very same day I called her, and though admitting it was a
little far fetched, she agreed to approach the board of curators
with my proposal that month. By chance, I also met the Acting
Director of the Kelsey, Dr. Lauren Talalay, and pitched the idea
to her. She verified that the Kelsey had a mummy child and, together
with Dr. Alcock, agreed to approach the curators.

In the meantime, I had to find someone who could take CT scans
for me and an advisor in the Materials Science and Engineering
(MSE) Department. Karen had mentioned that she knew someone in
Radiology who could take x-rays for me, so I began by wandering
down to Radiology. Four hours later, after talking to a dozen
hospital workers, walking through six buildings, and visiting
a Wendy's, I ended up on the opposite corner of the Medical Campus
in the Computer-aided Tomography (CT) Department at the mercy
of a kind old secretary, Rosita. She introduced me to the Associate
Chair of Research, Dr. Isaac Francis, and the head technician,
Kim Pici. Over the next four weeks I would become intimately acquainted
with them and would eventually coax them into letting me bring
the mummy in after hours to get scans. In these four weeks I had
also managed to find a mentor in the MSE Department, Dr. John
Halloran, from whom came an infinite well of advice and support.

Permission from the Kelsey was granted in late January. Two
Curators of Ancient Egypt from the Kelsey, Dr. Terry Wilfong and
Dr. Janet Richards, volunteered to accompany me in to the hospital,
and on February 19 the triumvirate of two curators and one student
brought the Kelsey Museum's mummy to the University of Michigan
hospital and completed one axial CT scan. Without a scratch, the
mummy returned to its home on the third floor of the Kelsey later
that night.

Now that I have the data, it is my responsibility to interpret
it. I was fortunate enough to obtain powerful medical imaging
software with a limited license and, with it, have started to
build three-dimensional computer models. It is a surprisingly
detailed process, and over the course of two weeks I have only
been able to separate the legs and arms. Hopefully, within the
bounds of my temporary software license I will be able to build
an accurate representation of the skull and as much of the body
as possible. These data sets will be saved in a format known as
stereolithography (STL) data.

Side view of mummy's head, showing position of
skull in wrappings. Note the well-preserved teeth and bone fragments
in the back of the skull.

From these data, I will attempt to build accurate plastic representations
of my computer models in what is known as a stereolithographic
apparatus, or SLA. Under the guidance of Dr. Halloran, a model
accurate to 13 nanometers should be producible. This model should
provide scientists an accurate view of the child's bones. From
it, we will be able to study diet, age, and countless other aspects
of the child's life--all without ever touching the mummy.

I have been blessed with a very patient and forgiving group
of scientists to help me. I would like to extend my deepest thanks
to John Halloran, my advisor; Karen O'Brien, Collections Manager
at the Museum of Anthropology; Terry Wilfong and Janet Richards,
Curators of Ancient Egypt at the Kelsey Museum; Lauren Talalay,
Acting Director of the Kelsey; Susan Alcock, Research Scientist
at the Kelsey; Isaac Francis, Associate Chair of Research and
friend in CT; Kim Pici and Karen Overbay, CT technicians; and
Bill Marlette and Tom Hulscher at GE. Your benevolence has made
this project what it is.